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  • #10567
    David Gray
    Participant

      Is there anyone still using the original wooden sealing boards?  A49 has them. I would appreciate comments on pros and cons. Better keel box access seems one of the former and inferior aquadynamics seems one of the latter. I am overhauling the keel structure and am faced with options.
                                  David Gray 

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    • #10568

      David, I believe A183 Bluster still has the wooden board system for sealing the keel boxes, and she has won the East Coast Race for the last umpteen years. But you should check with Jane to find out if that’s true, and if so how well they work. 

      A184 Aquilo II uses neoprene flaps along the bottom of the keel boxes, which Richard described in a recent Bulletin, I think it was 2009-10. but again, you should ask him to see how well they’ve worked.

      Please let us know which way you decide!

      Best wishes, John

    • #22626
      Richard James
      Keymaster

      Hello Jonathan,

      Please could you post some photos of Bluster’s lower keel box wooden sealing blocks and the fittings.

    • #22652
      T12
      Participant

      T12 has keel following wooden sealing boards which are original I am sure.

      In theory they are great for hydrodynamics, water sloshing control and automatic operation.

      In reality I am yet to be sure they fully close the keel slot (and thus improves hydrodynamics) but I will check when she is in the water next year.

      They also require maintenance every year; due to lots of moving parts combined with antifouling/wear issues.

      I may convert the current system of bungees and multiple sheaves to deploy the strips, into something more manual, but more positive. Hopefully this would make them feel more beneficial.

      Best of all would be GRP followers, the aft end of which is forced, and then locked down to the hull line with some sort of strut. Possibly you could use a long gas strut with an extended underwater actuator arm. Or a bit of batten with holes in it that you lock into place on the rear bulkhead.

      George

    • #22653
      Richard James
      Keymaster

      Thank you George.
      My friend who is making me a new front door (in Accoya) is a master joiner and qualified shipwright. He came round the other day and saw the sealing boards I got from A154. He suggested a remake in NYLON BLOCK.

      Nick and I will offer up A154’s boards to A89 tomorrow, just before she comes out the water.

    • #22654
      Dominic Dobson
      Participant

      Richard,

      i believe that nylon will absorb water and swell possibly causing the sealing board to stick, not sure what the advantages would be.

      Dom

    • #22655
      Jonathan Stearn
      Participant

      A183 Bluster does not have board seals at the base of the keel boxes. She has flexible seals.

      I like to think that her success in the East Coast races was due to the skill of her crew rather than the boat herself. She was always sailed with a full cruising inventory and was not stripped out (other than leaving the dinghy behind).

      Jonathan

    • #22659
      Richard James
      Keymaster

      Dom – Good spot, it looks like NYLON does take in water. That really surprised the shipwright.

      We offered up A154’s sealing boards to A16 Dervorguilla and A89 Colchide on Wednesday, and found they seem to present upside down. Further, it looks like the strengthening blocks are fitted to the wrong side. We have taken lots of photos and plan an article about all this soon.

    • #22660
      Dominic Dobson
      Participant

      Something I picked up from moody owners site where someone was proposing to use nylon for bushes on rudder shaft

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